Chapter 4: Some bloke?
The tower was huge. An enormous and a formidable construct of man! "Where … is the … top?" Zira's head rolled back as she tried to find the peak. "Damnit!" They walked towards the structure, vast and shining in its wake. As if the clouds had assembled themselves around it to shroud it in shade and dark, the black atmosphere finally gained the group's attention.
"What time is it?" queried Damion as he jerked his head up. Zira shrugged and Chaos muttered a "derp.". "It's so damn dark, let's get inside. I feel ... like ... being watched." Kenji stroked his left arm, obviously showing his distress. "When the sun comes down ..." Suzumi reached her hand out and promptly felt the first rain drops. "When the rain wash away ..." Her chanting soon carried Zira and Chaos along. "All the hopes I can bring, to another day, another day. When trees start to sway and the wind makes them move." The entry door wasn't locked, and the large, rather empty room was filled with countless candles. Their steps were wet and heavy, the clothes drenched in cold rain. "Strange place ..." breathed Zira. "Do you hear that?" Kenji looked back at the door that closed with noise and sound. "What?" Damion scratched his head. "This is not cool ..."
Meanwhile at the top, sirens wailed and Donk almost fell down the few metal steps into the engine room in his hurry to reach the stricken machine. Red light bathed the room and strobed over the brass and steel in steady flashes. Donk ran to the pressure gadgets, watching the little black needle tap against the edge as it fought to read numbers that didn't exist.
Punching buttons, the mechanic tried to release the steam feeds but the lights on the control board just winked at him in frantic red and green. He ducked under a bunch of rattling brass banded pipes and fought his way around to the main engine compartment. He swore as boiling water dripped down from the ceiling, but the scald scars would only join the collection that already littered his hands and upper arms.
Steam filled the small compartment making it as hot and clammy as a sauna. Water clung to his short black hair and stuck his pullover to his back like a second skin. Blinking water out of his eyes he ran his hands lightly over the hot pipes, tracing the coolant leads as a glowing blue schematic of the tower's engine flickered to life behind his eyes, scrolling information on his retina and into his brain. Not that he really needed it; his fingers hovered over the metal following a path they knew by heart as well as by cortical searing.
The corrugated silver and bronze pipes shone in the red light, water condensing and then coiling off again as steam in a matter of seconds. A high pitched whistle slowly grew in volume like a kettle on a stove. The noise filled Donk's ears and his heart did a somersault against his ribs. If he didn't find a way to vent the pressure the engine would go into critical overload and Solaris' pride wouldn't scratch the sky for much longer. Squeezing past a bank of regulators he reached the primary combustion drive, the rotor spinning at an uncontrollable speed, its gears clicking against each other like a manic clock.
It looked like a massive spinning top laid on its side, both ends held in place by a long thick pole that ran the length of the room. Heaving in lungfuls of heated air, Donk wiped his sweaty hands on his blue coveralls and tried to think. If he severed the pipes then the whole lower body would be flooded with boiling water. If he didn't the rotor would detach and the upper half of the tower would be ripped apart by flying metal and rivets. Either way he didn't plan on going out that way.
An image of Sinn flickered over his eyes as his memory coils whirled through possible solutions. He would not die without seeing her again and he'd fight Dais' savage embrace with everything he had to keep it that way. Bringing his attention back to the present situation a balance tube exploded on his right, the little red ball that floated in it zipping past his head with enough force to punch through the outer hull.
"Sodding-!" he cursed, watching steam fly towards the hole and be sucked out in a swirling funnel of atmo breach. An idea flared to life in his mind and he wouldn't have been surprised if a lector bulb didn't appear over his head. Flipping the stream release switch he ran back to the outer compartment, his legs heavy and the soles of his boots tacky as they started to melt into the metal deck. Slamming the outer door, he shook his soaked hair and stared at the release lever.
If he didn't get the emergency doors closed in time after he vented the steam he'd freeze to death in the void. "And to think I said this job would be a piece of pie." Solaris' Pride groaned like a wounded leviathan and the level tilted sharply, spilling Donk to his knees. He grabbed a railing to stop himself from sliding into a wall and hauled himself to his feet as he felt the tower complaining to him through the neural interface at the base of his skull. She didn't want to die and she had one hell of a bellyache.
"Alright, alright old girl, I'm working on it." He muttered to the collection of bolts and steel plating that housed his second love. The storey dipped as the tower began to shake and Donk's stomach seemed to drop to the floor and bounce back again. Grabbing the lever he leant on it, his melted boots sliding as he tried to move it. He strained, his forearms bulging with the effort but it wouldn't move. Spouting expletives even his father would be ashamed of Donk stepped back and kicked the lever. It wobbled and twitched under his onslaught but remained stubbornly upright. He kicked it again, panic rising up his throat in a scalding wave even as the steam that was filling the room with a white fog tried to crawl down it.
"Why?Won't!You? Move?" he yelled, each word punctuated by a strike that vibrated up his leg. Angrily he booted the metal and with a screech of protest it snapped against the deck, releasing the doors. The void opened up before him and tried to swallow him greedily. Steam whipped out with a howl, white going out to meet the blackness of ozone. Donk held onto the lever, the wind from the escaping atmosphere tugging at his clothes and freezing the water and sweat to his body.
After a few moments the red flashing stopped and the normal lector lights flickered to life. Pulling back, he braced his legs against the levers base and wrenched it back in place, the rusted emergency doors sliding closed with an echoing clang. Gasping, Donk lay on his back as oxygen flooded back into the engine room. He brushed a hand over his face and rubbed the ice out of his eyebrows, his coveralls equally covered in tiny sparkling ice crystals. Muscles protesting he rolled to his knees and slammed his hand down on a large black button. The rotating gears instantly slowed, hissing and moaning as they spun down into stillness. The back-up engine would sustain life support and the lights until he could figure out what had gone wrong with the main. He leant against the panel and sighed into the dials and switches.
"Piece of cake." -
The tower ceased to shake and but Suzumi's crying did not. "DAMNIT SU IT'S OVER SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!" screamed Kenji with all of his voice against Suzumi's high pitched opera. She halted, panting and tears filling her eyes. "I- I. I'm sorry. It's just, I ...-" Suzumi hesitated. "Chill out Su ... we all thought this thing would collapse." Chaos' cheer didn't help a lot, but it was better than Zira's malevolent stare and Damion's traumatized gaze.
Chaos developed a crease between her eyes, and they continued to walk, she a few steps behind Kenji who was leading the group upwards, he on legs that quivered with the strain of angst, and quivered all the more once they started to tackle the steps to the upper floors of Solaris' Pride.
"Here, we should take a rest and get dry. I see a heater over there." Kenji pointed at a small grey box with rills and strange screws caging it. "This entire tower seems more like a flying ship." Zira looked at the walls and everywhere were pipes, decorations made out of copper and steel. The entire room was built like a ship's rib in fact.
Damion yawned loudly and stretched his body with a vengeance. "D'awwwwwww whatever, I need a break. Breaks are cool." Kenji sighed. "This 'trip' has turned into a real disaster." "I don't think we'll find Sinn in here ..." added Chaos as she pulled an empty, dark purple chalice from under her clothing. "What are you doing?" Zira looked at Chaos, carefully cocking her head.
"I didn't have the chance to get rid of my excess yet. So I'm doing it now." Chaos' unfazed expression remained as she cut her wrist and released the crimson liquid. It streamed down her hand, into the palm and along her fingers, slowly filling even the smallest ditch in her skin. Eventually it quietly dripped into the case, drop for drop quietly splashed into the red sea.
"Oh Chaos please, don't make a show out of it. That's not cool." Damion snorted loudly, watching Chaos in the process. "Help yourself." her dark voice killed the atmosphere. In the end the group gathered around the little copper heater, quiet, silent, no noise, no sound, no nothing. Just the pipes guiding hot steam through their innards, the wind blowing against the structure and the rain drops crashing against the ribs and stones.
Yours faithfully,
Skadow
PS: Wow I'm so late on this, I try really hard to update once per week. But hell, work is a pain the a... you know where. Oh well, better now than never! R&R